“Devotees” of celibate god Ayyappa stopped six women from visiting the Sabarimala temple on Sunday as the stand-off over the entry of women in the menstruating age group of 10 to 50 continued amid calls for political intervention.

The Kerala BJP has demanded a special Assembly session to seek the Centre’s involvement in tackling the crisis.

The Congress has sought an ordinance to bypass the Supreme Court’s verdict that last month lifted a centuries-old ban to allow women of all ages to enter the hill shrine.

At Sabarimala, the “devotees”, chanting Ayyappa mantra, blocked the six — all Telugu-speaking women — from reaching the shrine that drew a heavy flow of pilgrims despite intermittent rain.

Sunday was the fifth day since the temple gates opened for the monthly puja after the court’s verdict. By all available indications, not a single woman between 10 and 50 has so far been able to reach the temple, which closes on Monday after the puja ends.

Police sources here said 12 women in this age group, including an activist, have so far been prevented from offering worship at the temple to the “Naishtik Brahmachari”, the eternally celibate deity, since it opened on Wednesday.

The “devotees”, backed by priests, have stood their ground, adamant that they wouldn’t allow tradition to be breached.

The Pandalam royal family, the shrine’s traditional custodian, has alleged that the CPM-led LDF government in Kerala was trying to destroy the sanctity of the shrine.

On Sunday, a 47-year-old woman reached the Nadappandhal, close to the sanctum sanctorum, but was stopped by the “devotees” chanting “Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa”. The other five were stopped on the way to the hills. The police later took the 47-year-old to a hospital after she complained of uneasiness.

An elderly woman who was at the spot said other devotees started chanting the Saranam mantra when they saw the identity card of the woman that showed she was born in 1971.

Earlier, the protesters had stopped two women in their 40s at the foothills. The police, who took the women to safety, said the two, who were accompanied by relatives, had told them they were unaware of the temple’s custom.

Sources said after the women were escorted to the Nilackal base camp, they gave in writing to the police that they didn’t want to break the centuries-old tradition.

Amid mounting protests in the state against the Supreme Court’s order, the BJP on Sunday urged the Kerala government to convene an Assembly session and pass a resolution seeking a central intervention to overcome the crisis.

BJP state unit chief P.S. Sreedharan Pillai claimed that even CPM members were against breaking the custom at the ancient shrine, which draws lakhs of devotees from across the country.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress urged the Centre to bring an ordinance to get around the court’s verdict.

CPM politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai, however, claimed the devotees opposing the verdict were in a minority.

The Sabarimala Karma Samithi intensified its agitation against the state government’s “hasty” move to enforce the court order. Thousands joined the “namajapa yatra” (protest march chanting the Ayyappa mantra) to police stations across the southern state against alleged police action on Samithi activists near Sabarimala last week.

Activist Rehana Fathima, who had made an attempt to enter the temple on Friday, has been expelled from her community for “hurting the sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees”, the Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council said.